Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I can't believe the Christmas season has come and gone already. It was so fun with the boys this year. Chase had a greater understanding of Santa Claus, but more importantly, he could also tell you the story of the Nativity. Having him know the true reason to celebrate, the birth of our Savior, was so special to me. December was also very exciting because we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Kent! They were here the week before Christmas, so the boys got to open some presents early with them. It was so great having my parents here to enjoy spending time with their cute grandsons that they only get to see a couple of times a year. Brett decked the house out in style with our first Christmas lights ever, and Chase was thrilled every single night when we turned them on. Taylor is pretty much a happy camper these days, so he just went along for the ride, smiling all the way. Chase also entertained us with his never-ending supply of Christmas songs. He knows all the words to Jingle Bells (verse included), Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, just to name a few.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

It's been a while since I posted; guess we've been busy. We had a nice Thanksgiving with the Rosens plus the Idaho Kents. The boys always love it when they have aunts and uncles to play with! Chase is in the "why?" phase right now, which is about the biggest test of patience I can think of. We're also trying to get across the concept of lying because he likes to tell you he's not doing something, when you're watching him do it. 2 year olds are challenging! But so sweet and cute, too. I guess I'll let the pictures say the rest...

Saturday, November 5, 2011

About 2 months before Taylor was born, I decided to make Chase a special quilt to help him transition into a big boy bed the following month. I spent a lot of time picking out just the right fabric, and as it turns out, a lot of $$ too. I got some bad advice from the lady at the fabric store about the sizing which made it a much more complicated project than it should have been, and right after I finished tying it, my month of horrible contractions leading up to Taylor's birth started. So, it has been sitting unfinished for the last 10 months, just waiting for someone to sew the edges. After all the money and time and thought that had gone into every detail of this project, there was no way I was going to let Chase go through another winter without getting to use it! Tonight I finally had enough energy after putting the boys to bed (amazing), and enough time between then and when Taylor wakes up for the first time (luckily), to finish it. My sewing machine didn't cooperate very well, but I'm so glad it's finally done. Chase is very excited to put it on his bed. Thankfully he still likes trucks and planes as much as he did last year! We have a quilt in our house that was Brett's dad when he was a teenager. I told Brett that I hope this quilt lasts that long, because that's the only way it will be worth all the effort this "simple" project ended up taking! As with all my sewing projects...don't look too close.:)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Taylor had his 9 month check-up yesterday. He weighed in at 16 pounds, 6 ounces, which is in the 2nd percentile. He was only in the 18th percentile for height, so he's still a little guy! Must be why he can still fit into 3-6 month size clothes.:) He's really started cruising around the furniture more lately, and likes to play games with us. He'll crawl away really fast, try to go up the stairs, and then look back at us and laugh because he knows he's not supposed to do that...it's so funny. He wants to eat anything that he can pick up and shove in his mouth by himself. Embarassing as it is, if I don't have him in his high chair while Chase is eating, he always tries to sit under the table by Chase's chair and pick up all the food Chase drops! Today he discovered a love for raspberry pancakes. He still wakes up 5-7 times a night, which is really hard, but he's so happy during the day. I would be a little happier during the day if he'd sleep better at night, that's for sure! He's a joy though, and we love him so much.

Monday, October 31, 2011

We've had a fun weekend celebrating Halloween. Lots of parties with friends, and Chase got to wear his costume 3 days in a row, which he was thrilled about. He's pretty much the cutest little fireman I've ever seen, and Taylor made a pretty adorable Tigger too. Chase has been loving all the decorations everywhere all month, and has spent some time practicing being a ghost and "scaring" us. Tonight we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and Chase was so excited! He'd run up to each door and do his thing, and then run back to us and shout "now we gotta go to another house and get more candy"...seriously, after every-single-house. After about an hour his bucket was so full he could barely carry it, so we figured it was time to call it a night. Taylor, who was way past his bedtime, did awesome just hanging out in the stroller and trying to chew through the plastic wrapper of a sucker.:) It was good times, and Chase made lots of friends along the way, which was super entertaining for us. For me, I'm going to go ahead and say it was the best Halloween ever! Pretty great how holidays are even better through your child's eyes.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

We took a road trip last weekend for the St. George marathon. Brett had to bow out because of a severe knee injury (as in he can't run AT ALL for 4-6 weeks and should really be on crutches), but we took the opportunity to see friends and hang out anyway. We made the fatal mistake of forgetting the car dvd player, but survived the drive with a little help from YouTube on the iPhone. There's a cute splash park in downtown St. George that the boys had a great time at, especially because they were (amazingly) the only kids there most of the time! We took a ride on a cute (also vacant) carousel too. It was a nice little getaway.

Taylor is such a water baby. He gets super excited for bath time. I love how cute the boys are when they're happily playing together.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

We went to the zoo on Labor Day. It was probably the best zoo experience I've ever had! Perfect weather, not crowded, and very active animals. We got to see them feed a tiger, but unfortunately my camera was on the wrong setting so the pictures aren't all that clear. There was also a funny ape playing peek-a-boo under a burlap sack! Chase sang "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" to the little monkeys, which was pretty cute. Taylor loved riding around in the stroller and was a very good baby.

We took a picture just like this at the zoo last June, but Taylor was still in my tummy!